8-hour Hamas terror spree in Israel, from Sinai, was unimpeded by Egyptian Army

TEL AVIV — Hamas is said to have conducted the bloodiest attack on Israel from neighboring Egypt.

Security sources said Hamas-aligned insurgents attacked several vehicles in southern Israel near the border with Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and killed at least seven and injured another 28. The Hamas targets included two passenger buses, a military patrol and a private vehicle, some of which were struck with mortars, anti-tank missiles and light fire on Aug. 18.

“Terrorists fired at a bus on its way to Eilat and fired an anti-tank rocket at another vehicle,” the Israeli military said.

The sources called the attack the bloodiest in years and highlighted the lack of Egyptian government control in Sinai. They said gunmen armed with heavy weapons moved through the Sinai and crossed the border into Israel where they began shooting at cars about 20 kilometers north of the port city of Eilat. The shooting, most of it from Sinai, lasted more than eight hours, unimpeded by Egyptian Army or security units.